EP188: The Mind Isn’t a Real Thing

The mind isn’t a real thing. It’s a concept. 

As a concept, it implies some solidity and some continuity. There’s a story about me-and-my-mind that can’t help but arise.

My mind appears to be an entity with some solid qualities. I can like what it does or dislike what it does. I can try to change it. It can hurt me. It’s either for or against me.

That’s a lot to put on a concept. It feels heavy, personal and problematic, and that’s one very common experience, for sure.

But what if “mind” is an unreal concept? If there is no mind that’s the stable source of things, there is only thought arising. Thought arising as This. 

There is no solid source, no explanation, no continuity, no cause and effect. Just this. That’s an experience too–one I’d suggest that’s closer to our primary experience, before concepts are learned–that is very worth exploring. 

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